Green Cove Backs Down, Will Repay Landowner Most of What It Took
$187,000 Settlement for Orange Park Man Who Finally Lost Patience
After the City of Green Cove forced him to pay more than $187,000 for non-existent stormwater infrastructure usage, the landowner reluctantly sued, and now the city is paying almost all of it back.
The city had billed Ward Huntley of Orange Park under the age-old legal principle of “we need the money.” Turns out, that might not be a legal principle after all. He’s getting 95 percent of it back, though critics of the city believe Huntley should have held out for the entire amount.
The parties reached an out-of-court settlement, to be approved at tonight’s City Council meeting, which said in part:
The city analyzed the material submitted as to the plaintiff’s properties and determined that they satisfy both the discharge rate and volume attenuation for all required storms at or below predeveloped rates. The City determines that the plaintiff’s properties are entitled to the mitigation credit of 95 percent.
Translation: We recognize that we can’t charge you based on stormwater discharge because your properties are not connected to the city system and drain into the St. Johns River via your own privately maintained ditches and culverts.
City ordinances plainly state the fee depends on usage—in this case, it was zero. The irony is that the amount of fees for his Huntley’s State Road 16 properties made him the highest payer in the city’s entire stormwater system.
Earlier this year, the issue reached it’s most absurd point when a city councilor asked the interim city manager whether the Hunley properties were attached to the city system. Mike Null found himself heming and hawing that he just “didn’t know,” which if that is to be believed, would have made him just about the only person at City Hall who didn’t.
Under the settlement, Huntley will be reimbursed $88,920 each for fiscal years 2023-24 and 2024-25. Even before filing the suit, Huntley was saying he was willing to let the city collect a token amount—even though he did not agree that it was owed—as a good faith gesture. The city gets to keep $4,680 for each of those years.
As far as the current fiscal year, Huntley will make a $4,680 payment in the same spirit. The settlement specifically allows Huntley to go after the city again if he feels wronged in the future.
The wording of the settlement also emphasizes that the city has not admitted that it did anything wrong. It stipulates that Huntley drop the lawsuit, which he had filed in Clay County Circuit Court, within five days of the council’s approval of the settlement.
There was no mention of lawyer’s fees in the settlement. Both Huntley and the city hired Tallahasee law firms specializing in stormwater disputes. Thousands of dollars were spent by both sides.
Fifty percent of Huntley’s refund is to be paid within 60 days. The balance is due by Halloween, a treat for having endured three years of official trickery.
